Machines for use in debarking applications commonly employ a number of individual cutting tools which are driven so as to engage the bark and strip or cut if from the tree. Examples of such machines are conventional ring debarkers which include means for feeding logs through a large ring, the ring supporting a number of knives or cutting tools which are supported by the ring for rotation around the logs, the knives, engage the bark to tear the bark from the log. One disadvantage of such machines and other prior art debarking machines is that the cutting tools provide a relatively small total cutting edge and the debarking operation is relatively slow.
Another problem in debarking logs is caused by the fact that the logs fed through the debarking machine may vary substantially in diameter and commonly the logs are not straight.
Another common problem in debarking applications is disposal of the waste material such as the bark which is stripped from the trees. During the debarking process, bark and other waste material builds up around the debarking machine. This material must be continuously removed if the machine is to remain operable.
Another of the problems with conventional debarking machines is that the cutting tools and drive mechanisms of such machines tend to be rapidly worn by the bark and by foreign matter on the logs.
While some of the prior art debarking machines have sought to overcome some of these deficiencies, those machines are relatively complicated and expensive. For example, ring debarkers which are provided with means for handling non-linear logs have relatively complicated apparatus for holding the opposite ends of the logs and for feeding the logs through the ring.